The invention relates to the configuration of desktop computer systems and other similar types of electronic appliances.
The popularity of personal computers has become such that their use is an everyday occurrence for much of the world""s population. Whilst improvements have been, and continue to be, made to the user interfaces of personal computers in order to make them usable by a wider cross section of the population, personal computer systems themselves have also greatly increased in their internal complexity so hat today most users are unfamiliar with the internal design and configuration of the computers that they use.
This, together with the increasingly ubiquitous nature of the Internet infrastructure and the services that are becoming available using it, is leading to the deployment of simpler, specialized computing devices that allow users to access applications at all times and on demand.
In consequence, research and development efforts relating to personal computer design are being directed to changing the nature of the desktop computer, at least fox some applications, from being a Relatively complex, but flexible, assembly of interoperating components, such as processor, memory, sound subsystem, CD-ROM drive, network card etc, each having distinct functions, parameters and features to becoming a single, network-connected and relatively reliable appliance, more akin to a telephone or television set than a microcomputer, whose internal make-up and functioning is completely invisible and irrelevant to the user.
The overall objective of such efforts is to remove complexity from the hands of the user in order to enable, ultimately, a more productive use of the technology by allowing users to focus on the task at hand rather than the tool itself.
Whilst this, at first sight, may seem a relatively straightforward and routine matter it does present some significant design challenges.
For instance, a major source of complexity, and also of much unreliability, in known systems is the expandability and upgradeabllity of the systems. The existence of standard electrical and mechanical interfaces to option cards and disk drive units means that the user of a system has many ways in which they can change the features of the system by adding or upgrading components. A consequence of this is that the standard platform chat the user receives usually has to be designed so that it will work reliably with all the possible upgrade possibilities a user might reasonably choose to install.
However, if the possibilities for expansion are limited a choice has to be made as to which features the product must have as standard features and which features should be optional.
The present invention addresses the above problems by providing a desktop personal computer appliance for use with external user input and display devices. In at least a preferred embodiment, the appliance consists of: a sealed housing comprising main processing functionality for executing application programs, and at least a DCxe2x80x94DC converter, the housing being provided with external connectors for connection to said external user input and display devices; a removable data storage device for storing user data associated said application programs and a user-specific software image, the housing having a recessed portion for receiving the removable data storage device and a movable closure member for enclosing the recessed portion; and an external power supply having a flying lead connectable to an external socket provided in the housing for supplying DC power to the DCxe2x80x94DC converter.
It can therefore be seen that the appliance is made up of three unitsxe2x80x94the sealed housing and its contents, the removable data storage unit and the external power supply. This simplifies considerably the task of providing maintenance and warranty support for such systems, thereby indirectly reducing their overall cost. The three units can be considered each to be separate field replaceable units, that are simply replaced when defective.
The housing is sealed in the sense that it is not intended that a user need to open the housing during the life of the product. If the product fails, then the housing together with its contents is replaced in its entirety. No expansion slot, socket or capability of any kind is provided within the housing, so a user does not need to open the housing for these purposes.
The use of a sealed housing has the advantage that no expandability needs to be accounted for in the design of the housing. The cooling and power consumption requirements of the components that are contained in the housing are therefore reduced and well defined. This in turn means that an external power supply can be employed, further reducing the need for cooling within the housing as well as the footprint and overall size of the housing itself.
In preferred embodiments, an arrangement is provided for securing the flying lead in its the external socket to avoid accidental disconnection thereof. The securing arrangement can, for instance, comprises a cable shroud that is movable to and from a closed position in which closed position the cable shroud is disposed so as to prevent removal of a plug on the flying lead from the socket, and a lock mechanism for locking the cable shroud in the closed position.
The appliance is provided with a removable data storage device because if it is needed to replace the system unit, the user""s programs and data, being stored in removable data storage device, can easily and transparently be transferred to a replacement system unit simply by removing the device from the defective system unit and fitting the device in the replacement system unit. In a typical implementation of the invention the operating system can be stored in the removable data storage device, although the invention could also be applied to a system in which the operating system is stored in ROM, for instance, within the system unit.
Hard disk drive storage devices have, of course, been used in computers for many years. With the progress of technology, the storage capacity of hard disk drive devices has increased and their size and weight decreased, and nowadays modern personal computers typically include a disc drive device fixed inside their casing. Such drives are generally of a standard form factor and provided with fixing holes in standard positions. Whatever the form or make of the drive, it then becomes possible for a computer manufacturer to provide a standard mounting arrangement having fixing holes through which self-tapping screws can be inserted to engage in the holes in the side faces of the drive. Since the size and weight of the device has reduced, a handle is not usually provided.
Whilst screw mounting the device within the chassis is possibly the most common way of mounting the device, many other types of mounting arrangements for disk drives have been used and proposed. Although the device can be removed from the computer by opening the casing and dismounting the device, this operation is somewhat time consuming and generally needs to be carried out by a technician or at least by a user having some technical skills and knowledge, and often requires the use of tools.
Hard disk drive units that are more readily removable for the computer system are also used for certain applications such as where devices need to be removed for secure physical storage, or in multiple drive systems in which faulty drives need to be replaced whilst the system is in operation, and in mobile and portable computers. However, readily removable hard disk drives have not been widely used in desktop personal computers, since such computers have typically provided the possibility of adding other components within the casing and therefore have usually been designed with the assumption that the user, or the technician responsible for maintaining the computer, will need to open the casing for other reasons.